Author: Rahul M

A birthday message has stirred up a storm in Bihar’s political circles. The occasion was the birthday of Nishant Kumar, son of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The stage: Upendra Kushwaha’s X account. While the former Union Minister wished Nishant a happy birthday, he also took the opportunity to drop a pointed suggestion — one that’s being read as a veiled call for Nitish’s retirement. Kushwaha fell out with Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav and formed the Rashtriya Lok Morcha in 2023. However, he is still a part of the NDA.  ‘Birthday Wish’ Or Hint At Retirement? Kushwaha didn’t mince words.…

(Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp.’s server software was exploited by unidentified hackers, with analysts warning of widespread cybersecurity breaches across the globe.The Redmond, Washington-based software maker said it had released a new security patch for customers to apply to their SharePoint servers “to mitigate active attacks targeting on-premises servers,” adding it was working to roll out others. The vulnerability allowed hackers to access file systems and internal configurations, as well as execute code, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said.Cybersecurity firms cautioned that a broad section of organizations around the world could be affected by the breach. Silas Cutler, a…

Do you know how many UNESCO World Heritage Sites there are in the world?The answer is now 1,248 landmarks, spanning across more than 170 countries after recent additions to the list.UNESCO added multiple sites during July, with Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle arguably the most well-known of the new properties. The fairy-tale castle inspired Walt Disney’s creation of Sleeping Beauty’s palace.UNESCO plays a vital role in helping ensure these historic sites around the world are preserved.The list of World Heritage Sites certainly piques the interest of travelers from all over.Broken down into different categories, the list consists of sites of cultural importance,…

Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has opened up about the infamous Slapgate incident involving his former teammate S Sreesanth during the inaugural edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008. While admitting that he was completely at fault for the incident, Harbhajan said that if given a chance, he would remove that chapter from his life.  Notably, Harbhajan while playing for Mumbai Indians, slapped Kings XI Punjab pacer (now Punjab Kings)Sreesanth during a league match of the IPL 2008 season. The BCCI suspended Harbhajan for the remaining fixtures after that incident, which still remains one of the much-talked about events…

LucknowJul 21, 2025 16:59 IST First published on: Jul 21, 2025 at 16:59 IST Share The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to expedite the process of providing land ownership rights to about 20,000 refugee families, largely from East Pakistan (now known as Bangladesh), who settled in the state between 1950 and 1975. The decision was taken on Monday at a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Minister, where a discussion took place on steps that needed to be taken to “remove hurdles” in giving ownership rights to refugee families, especially those settled in reserved forest areas of…

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United Nations on Monday expressed concern about the Taliban’s arrest of Afghan women and girls for their alleged failure to comply with the authorities’ dress code.In May 2022, the Taliban government issued a decree calling for women to show only their eyes and recommending they wear a head-to-toe burqa. The Taliban, which returned to power in 2021, has cracked down on the way women dress and behave in public, notably through morality laws forbidding them to show their faces outside the home.The U.N. mission in Afghanistan said it was concerned by the arrest of “numerous” women…

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran said Monday it would hold renewed talks this week with European nations over the country’s nuclear program, with discussions to be hosted by Turkey. The talks, to be held in Istanbul on Friday, will be the first since a ceasefire was reached after a 12-day war waged by Israel against Iran in June, which also saw the United States strike nuclear-related facilities in the Islamic Republic. A similar meeting had been held in the Turkish city in May.The discussions will bring Iranian officials together with officials from Britain, France and Germany — known as the…

The Uttar Pradesh police has nabbed 10 individuals under “Mission Asmita” in a conversion racket case from six different states. The racket was based out of Agra in Uttar Pradesh. One of the accused arrested in the case is Mohammad Ali, who was arrested from Rajasthan. Mohammad Ali, arrested in the pan-India religious conversion racket case has now declared his intention to do “ghar wapsi” and return to the fold of Hinduism, reported NDTV. The accused even claimed to be himself a victim as well. According to sources, Mohammad Ali broke down during the interrogation in Agra jail and requested that he wants to go back home. Furthermore, he…

As a child, Julian Ako would visit his maternal great-grandfather’s home near Pilaa Beach in Kauai, Hawaii, where he and his family would gather edible fungi that grow on kukui trees and collect seaweed and fish from the reef.For about a decade, that land has belonged to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who is constructing a massive compound at an estimated cost that exceeds $300 million. WIRED can now reveal that Zuckerberg’s property is atop a burial site: Ako’s great-grandmother and her brother were buried on the land.After months of discussions with a Zuckerberg representative, Ako was successfully able to gain…

With a deeply ingrained habit of taking principled stands and sticking to his guns, V S Achuthanandan remained a rebel throughout his political life, twice getting removed from the CPI(M) Politburo for going against the party line. Achuthanandan died here on Monday at the age of 101.For VS, as the former Kerala Chief Minister was popularly known, the first major defiance of party line came as early as 1962 during the India-China war that divided the Indian Communists. VS was among the Communists jailed in the Thiruvananthapuram Central Prison. His plan to donate blood as well as money earned from…